Back in 2012, I predicted that
Google would use an API to crawl app content. My thinking was that
Google’s current method of crawling Web pages with a spider was not only
inefficient, but it was based on hyperlinks. Apps don’t use hyperlinks
to connect content as Web pages do, so a much better way for Google to
discover content in an app is through an API.
Fast-forward to 2015 and Google has released the ability to index app content through an API called the Mobile App Indexing API. It’s a little different than what I had conceived back in 2012, but the premise is the same.
My vision in 2012 was Google requesting access to a brand’s content API in the same way mobile apps use APIs to populate content within the app from a Web server. However, Google’s Mobile App Indexing API works differently in that developers notify Google of where content lives within their app and what URL that content correlates to on their website. Google then has the option of sending users to view the content on a Web page or inside the app.
"The App Indexing API provides a way for developers to notify Google about deep links in their native apps and allows the Google app, version 3.6 and above, to drive re-engagement through Google Search query autocompletions, providing fast and easy access to inner pages in apps. The deep links reported using the App Indexing API are also used by Google to index app content and are surfaced in Google Search results."
The first thing developers need to do is enable deep linking for their app from the Developers Console. The next step is to connect your app to your website. Then make sure the app is set up to work with Google Play services. Now comes the fun part…
Your developers will need to set up actions called "intent filters" that tell Google when a user is viewing a section of content, what the content’s title is, and if there is a Web page on your site that has the same content.
When a user views a piece of content in your app, Google will be notified via their app indexing API that the content exists in the app.
Later, when a person using Google search is looking for the corresponding content on your website, Google can offer them the option of viewing the content in your app instead. If the user selects that option, the app is opened up and the user is taken directly to the content they are looking for.
As far as I can tell, the app isn’t actually sending any content to Google other than the title and the location of the content. So Google isn’t really analyzing any content at this point; it’s simply keeping track of where the content lives on your site and in your app. In that sense, the API is truly just "indexing" and doesn’t appear to be tied into their search algorithm yet.
Read more Click here / www.advante360.com
Fast-forward to 2015 and Google has released the ability to index app content through an API called the Mobile App Indexing API. It’s a little different than what I had conceived back in 2012, but the premise is the same.
My vision in 2012 was Google requesting access to a brand’s content API in the same way mobile apps use APIs to populate content within the app from a Web server. However, Google’s Mobile App Indexing API works differently in that developers notify Google of where content lives within their app and what URL that content correlates to on their website. Google then has the option of sending users to view the content on a Web page or inside the app.
How It Works
From Google’s App Indexing API site (emphasis mine):"The App Indexing API provides a way for developers to notify Google about deep links in their native apps and allows the Google app, version 3.6 and above, to drive re-engagement through Google Search query autocompletions, providing fast and easy access to inner pages in apps. The deep links reported using the App Indexing API are also used by Google to index app content and are surfaced in Google Search results."
The first thing developers need to do is enable deep linking for their app from the Developers Console. The next step is to connect your app to your website. Then make sure the app is set up to work with Google Play services. Now comes the fun part…
Your developers will need to set up actions called "intent filters" that tell Google when a user is viewing a section of content, what the content’s title is, and if there is a Web page on your site that has the same content.
When a user views a piece of content in your app, Google will be notified via their app indexing API that the content exists in the app.
Later, when a person using Google search is looking for the corresponding content on your website, Google can offer them the option of viewing the content in your app instead. If the user selects that option, the app is opened up and the user is taken directly to the content they are looking for.
As far as I can tell, the app isn’t actually sending any content to Google other than the title and the location of the content. So Google isn’t really analyzing any content at this point; it’s simply keeping track of where the content lives on your site and in your app. In that sense, the API is truly just "indexing" and doesn’t appear to be tied into their search algorithm yet.
Read more Click here / www.advante360.com
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